deskthority

OldIsNew wrote: This is listed as an Eagle IV keyboard - does anyone recognize what the type of switches these are?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-E ... SwpLdZzPgt

switches.jpg

If not, does anyone at least have a theory about the black gunk?

Is that gunk grease? It looks like high temp black gear grease to me. Gross xD

Daniel Beardsmore wrote: They appear to be [wiki]Futaba sealed linear[/wiki]

Thanks for the analysis! Tempted to get it to check it out, but rather pricey - even more so considering the gunk on it.

Hey guys,

Interested in the bottom one, which appears to have a Highscreen logo, but I've never seen this type from Highscreen.

Judging by the shape / curve of the case it could be RD. But are those Tai-Hao caps?

Anyone want to take a guess if this is rubber dome or not?

https://www.tradera.com/item/340827/267 ... rd-kb-9968

derp

davkol wrote: KB-9968 is a rubber dome. Rather nice and very quiet.

Thanks!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intergraph-Ter ... .l4275.c10

Think this thing is rubber dome? Never seen anything like it before.

derp

Does anyone know if this one's mechanical? Solidteck ACK-298.

derp

Some metal contact figures:

[wiki]Tokai MM9 series[/wiki]: 2 million
[wiki]Futaba ML series[/wiki]: 3 million
[wiki]Futaba MA series[/wiki]: 5 million (per Samducksa), 10 million (per Sejin), 50 million (per Sejin/Futaba)
[wiki]Alps SKBL/SKBM series[/wiki]: 10 million
[wiki]General Instrument Series S950[/wiki]: 10 million

10 M is also the rated lifetime of various Mitsumi types including KPQ Type "hybrid" and KFK Type rubber dome over membrane.

derp

I'm simply correcting your fallacy that switch lifetime of 10 M is indicative of membrane. The Himake Alps clone switches that match up with what Ortek used were rated for 5 M, and 10 M for the better type that Monterey used. Membranes aren't inherently unreliable, which we already know from the Model M.

That keyboard does remind me a bit of the Ortek Mac keyboards with Alps switches (and the strange USB badge is where Mac keyboards had their power key), and it has the old pre-XP Windows logo, and combined with the hideous typography on the box it does look pretty old.

However, a peak force of (I assume they are trying to say) 60±15 g, puts it below that of tactile Alps at 70 g.

It probably is rubber dome. I'd expect the specifications to indicate clearly if it was metal contact (as "mechanical switch") but it is by no means certain.

Does anyone recognize the top left IBM board?

snufflecat wrote: Does anyone recognize the top left IBM board?

M2 ?

wiki/IBM_Selectric_Touch_Keyboard

snufflecat wrote:

_644641902.jpg

Does anyone recognize the top left IBM board?

Rubberdome

Can anyone tell if I've got myself a Hall effect board with this Rafi? I found photos of one and it had an almost identical case. Thanks!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2742064157

Keybug wrote: Can anyone tell if I've got myself a Hall effect board with this Rafi? I found photos of one and it had an almost identical case. Thanks!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2742064157

That's from RAFI's Type B Series (full travel keyboards). The 2007 brochure I found gives B4 (keypad, metal contact), B6-C (standard layout, Hall effect), and B8-C (also Hall effect; narrower ad-hoc assembly design, like on eBay but with Windows keys and no LED area).

I don't know if there's a metal contact B6 or B8 — I can check later as I may have some more details stashed away. B8-C seems to be uncommon, too.

If you could, much obliged...

Keybug wrote: Can anyone tell if I've got myself a Hall effect board with this Rafi? I found photos of one and it had an almost identical case. Thanks!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2742064157

Very nice find!

I've uploaded the March 2007 RAFI Standard Keyboards catalogue into [wiki]Category:RAFI catalogues and brochures[/wiki], but this is too new. Some muppet has set the wiki file upload limit to 8 MB (!!) so I can't upload the older catalogue from February 2001, but you can find it here: https://www.relayspec.com/catalogs/0144 ... ial_kb.pdf

From the two, you can see that the keyboard numbers don't seem to correspond to anything. The type in question could be metal contact or Hall effect, though.

RAFI don't seem to have keyboards listed on their website any more.

Thanks very much for your input! I'm prepared to bet now it's not Hall, but we'll see. Still a nice find, I guess... Cheers, Seebart.

what is this keyboard? do you think i can restored and used as usb?

It's a Honeywell Micro Switch keyboard, a legendary piece of computer history and inspiration for many keysets like round 5. Sadly I don't know of any Honeywell board that is converted

hansichen wrote: It's a Honeywell Micro Switch keyboard, a legendary piece of computer history and inspiration for many keysets like round 5. Sadly I don't know of any Honeywell board that is converted

I assume that keycap set inspired sets like this one as well?

invisiblefly wrote: what is this keyboard? do you think i can restored and used as usb?

Got the same keyboard a while back, it was modded to work with commadore/atari so converting to usb is possible.
Maybe in the middle of December I will check my board again, and see what I can do.

So I just got this IBM keyboard with buckling spring but I've never really seen the model before. Anyone recognise this one?
Also, what about this switch type? It's on a board from an old receipt/calculator-thingy. Thanks!

snufflecat wrote: Also, what about this switch type? It's on a board from an old receipt/calculator-thingy.

Thanks!

Mitsumi simplified:

wiki/Mitsumi_simplified

snufflecat wrote: So I just got this IBM keyboard with buckling spring but I've never really seen the model before. Anyone recognise this one?

Spoiler:

IMG_20171118_172040246.jpg

IMG_20171118_172031147.jpg

IMG_20171118_172005187.jpg

IBM Model M2

Curious, so did Lexmark take over the Greenock factory?